The electronic spectrum of a three-dimensional quasicrystal

The electronic spectrum of an icosahedral quasicrystal with a central-atom decoration of the Amman-Mackay network is investigated in the tight-binding approximation. The quasicrystal is described as a structural limit of the optimal cubic approximants with increasing period. The electronic spectra for the first four optimal cubic approximants do not contain the hierarchical gap structure which is typical for the Cantor set of the spectrum of a one-dimensional quasicrystal. At the same time, as the order of the approximant increases, the spectrum becomes singular throughout the entire energy scale. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 8, 557–562 (25 April 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Synthesis,chemical and biological properties of pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidines

We review data on methods for synthesis, chemical and pharmacological properties of pyrido[1,2-a)pyrimidines.Scientific-Research Institute of Pharmacology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, All-Union Science Center for Biologically Active Substances, Staraya Kupavna, 124432. Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 579–596, May, 1994. Original article submitted March 3, 1994.     

Investigation of microbial—mineral interactions by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to investigate the reactions of microbes with iron minerals in aqueous solutions and as components of rocks in banded iron formations and granite. A microbial biofilm that formed on a wall of an excavated granite vault in a deep underground laboratory initiated this research. At the aerobic face of the biofilm, iron was found in a form of ferrihydrite; in the anaerobic face against the rock, iron was found as very small siderite particles. Laboratory incubations of the biofilm microbial consortium showed different mineral species could be formed. When the microbial consortium from the biofilm was incubated with magnetite grains, up to about 10% of the iron was altered in three weeks to hematite. The ability of the consortium to precipitate iron both as Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in close proximity may have a bearing on the deposition of banded iron formations. These reactions could also be important in microbially induced corrosion.     

Free Groups from Fields

In the nineteenth century, field theory brilliantly resolveda number of questions that had taxed mathematicians for centuries;for example, ‘The circle cannot be squared’ by straightedge and compass, and solving polynomial equations by radicalsis not always possible. These successes have continued to beheld up as superb examples of the power of mathematical thought,and are demonstrated at an undergraduate level. The purposeof this article is to provide another such natural example whichleads to a concrete realisation of the free group on 2 generators.     

New method for the synthesis of 6-amino-4-aryl-3,5-dicyano-3,4-dihydropyridine-2(1H)-thiones by recyclization of 4-aryl-2,6-diamino-4H-thiopyranes

Ammonium 6-amino-4-aryl-3,5-dicyano-1,4-dihydropyridine-2-thiolates were synthesized by recyclization of 4-aryl-2,6-diamino-3,5-dicyano-4H-thiopyranes in the presence of organic bases. On acidification of the products, the corresponding substituted 3,4-dihydropyridine-2(1H)-thiones were obtained which were used in the synthesis of 2-alkylthio-1,4-dihydropyridines, bis-(pyridyl-2)disulfides and thieno[2,3-b]pyridines.Deceased.T. G. Shevchenko Lugansk State Pedagogical Institute, Lugansk 348011. N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117913. Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 7, pp. 909–914, July, 1997.